Supervisory signaling system



R. M. HOPKINS.

SUPERVISORY SIGNALING SYSTEM. APPLICATION F|LEDMAR.1S,1918.

1,395,826. Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

@me Ya/ULogv RICHARD 1M. HOPKINS, OF RTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0AMERICAN DISTRICT TELEGRALPE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATIONOF NEW JERSEY.

SUPERVISORY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

Patented Ncv.1.1921. y

Application filed March 18, `1918. Serial No. 223,146.

.To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, RICHARD M. HorKINs, a citizen of thel United States,and a resident of Rutherford, county of Bergen, and State of New Jersey,have invented certaln new and useful Improvements in SupervisorySignaling Systems, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part hereof.

This invention relates to supervisory signaling systems especiallyapplicable to sprinkler or other water supply installations ingsexisting as a separate local unit. Itsgeneral purpose, as a whole, is toprovide an eiiicient arrangement whereby any .change 1n the servicecondition of the sprlnkler or other water supply installation, o r ofthe doors and windows, etc., of a building or other elements to besupervised, will be locally signaled to a central station, such as theoiice of the local supervisor or person incharge, and whereby theparticular locality in the installation or building where such changehas occurred will be indicated, with the result that the installation orother .elements to be supervised may be kept at all times in a highstate of eiliciency.

In the accompanying drawing formmg part of this specification, thesystem is shown y in normal condition in diagram, and 1n its preferredform as applied to a spr1nkler 1n stallation.

Referring now to the particular arrangement as shown in the drawing, 1and 2 are main circuit wires leading from any convenient source ofelectric current.; Connecting with these main wires are one or morebranch circuits or loops extending to various parts ofthe sprinklerinstallation. In the drawing, four of such branch circuits o1' loops areshown. The upper one bearing the legend Gate valve loop extends to thevarious gate valves of the sprinkler installa-- tion, the location ofthe gate valves being indicated by crosses on'the circuit loop. The nextcircuit loop extends to devices in the installation responsive tovariations of they water pressure and bears the legend Pressure loop.The location of these pressure devices is also indicated .by crosses onthe circuit loop. The next circuit loop extends to devices in theinstallation associated with the various tank floats and bears thelegend 'Tank float loop. The locations of thesedevices are alsoindicated by crosses. on the circuit loop. The lower circuit loopextends to the various devices of the installation responsive to thewater flow and bears the legend Water iow loop. The locations of thesedevices are indicated by thev contacts connected with the loop.

3 is a signahpreferably an audible signal, such as a bell, connected inthe local circuit with a battery 4, such circuit being indicated by thewires 5l 'and 6. The wire 5 is connected with a' contact 7 movablebetween con- 80 tacts 8 and 9. Wire 6 is connected with a switch 10resting normally on the contact 11 and adapted to be moved over tocontact 12. The switching device consisting of the contacts 7, 8 and .9,is controlledby an electro- 85 magnet 13 in the circuit of the gatevalve loop. For this purpose, its armature 14 carries an arm 15 whichactuates the contact 7. When the magnet 13 is energized to draw up itsarmature 14the arm 15 moves 90 to the left and permits the contact 7 torise to make connection with the contact 9. This is the position of theparts shownin the drawing. yWhen the magnet 13 'is denergized, itsarmature 14 moves to the left and 95 'the arm 15 moves to the right,thereby throwing contact 7 into connection with contact 8.

Armature 14 carries al visual signal 16- and the magnet and associatedswitching device are preferably inclosed within a box having' 100 anopening 17 through Awhich the signal k16 is visible when magnet v13 isdenergized.

19 is one of the gate valves ofthe sprinkler installation. Associatedwith'it is 'a pair 'of contacts 20-and 21. When thegate valv'e'is 105opened and its stem elevated, contacts 20y and 21 are closed, as shownin the drawing. When the gate valve is closed andits stem lowered,contacts 2O and 21 are thereby opened. In the preferable arrangement, asshown in the drawing, the gate valve loop is normally closed and thegate valves are all open to permit a free flow of water. The other gatevalves and their contacts are the same as. that just described.

Instead of employing the contacts and 21 to eii'ect a break in the gatevalve loop and thereby denergize magnet 13, as might be done, it ispreferable to throw in an added resistance when these contacts areopened and thereby denergizemagnet 13, employing this added resistancebeing in the form of a coil for an electromagnet to operate a localsignal to indicate the position of the gate valve. This arrangement isshown in the drawing, the added resistance being in the form of anelectromagnet 22 connected in multiple with the contacts 20 and 21. Whenthese contacts are opened, magnet 22 is energized and its armature 23 isdrawn up, thereby lowering the target 24 to obscure the disk 25. Thetarget 24 is ordinarily colored red and the disk 25 is ordinarily white.When the gate valve 19 is open, therefore, the white disk 25 will bedisplayed to indicate this fact. When the gate valve is closed, thetarget 24 will be lowered to indicate that the gate valve is closed.Therey are preferably similar electromagnetic and signaling devicesassociated with each gate valve.

When a gate valve,`such as 19, is closed, its contacts 20 and 21 will beopened to include in the circuit the magnet 22 whose added resistanceto. the circuit denergize's magnet 13, thereby displaying signal 16 atopening 17 and closing contacts 7 and 8. This closes the circuit ofsignal 3, normally open, at contacts 7 and 8, and causes the signal 3 toindicate danger or give a call' indication as by ringing a bell. Thisdraws the supervisors attention and by signal 16 he is able to observethat the signal has been transmitted from the gate valve loop which isthereupon inspected to` determine the lo cation of lthe particular gatevalve from which the signal has been transmitted. The target 24, orother signal associated with the gate valve, having dropped, facilitatesthe inspection of the gate valves.

As soon as the supervisor issues the order to inspect the gate valves,he throws the switch 10 over to the right, thereby disconnecting thewire 6 vfrom contact 11 and connecting it with contact 12. This breaksthe circuit of signalA 3 and its danger or call indication ceases.Contact 12 is connected by wire 26 'with contact 9. Hence, when theparticular gate valve from which the signal has beenv transmitted hasbeen opened to again energize magnet 13 and close contacts 7 and 9,

the circuit of signal 3 is thereby again closed andV signal l3 gives asecond call in. dication to inform the supervisor that the gate valvehas been opened and that the gate valve loop and signal 16 have beenrestored to normal condition. Thereupon hereturns the switch 1() to itsnormal position making connection with contact 11, cutting out signal 3and restoring everything to normal. It will be observed that switch 10acts to cut in and cut out certain of the contacts of switching devices7, 8 and 9 to thereby control the call indication of signal 3 or suchother signaling means as may be employed in lieu thereof.

Associated with the pressure loop is an electro-magnet 27 which controlssignal 28 and switching device 29 similar tothe magnet 13 and itsassociated devices. The switching device 29 is connected with wires 5and 6 in the same way as contacts 7, 8, 9 and is associated with a handswitch-30 similar to switch 10. The pressure loop is also provided ateach pressure device with devices similar to that associated with gatevalve 19. The tank float loop is provided With similar devices.

In the preferred arrangement, as shown, the supervisory circuits arenormally closed. This has the advantage that any failure of current inthese circuit loops or break in a circuit wire or connection will causean alarm indication at the supervisors office, as

by signals 3 and 16.

In the water How loop, instead of employing normally closed contacts,such as 20, 21, normally open contacts, such as 31 and 32, are used.Contact 31 is connected by a wire to one end of amagnet coil 33, whoseother end is connected with one side of the circuit loop. Contact 32 isconnected with the other side of the water flow loop. By thisarrangement, when contacts 31 and 32 are closed, a bridge across the twosides of the circuit loop is closed to shunt out magnet 34. Magnet 33 isincluded in this branch and when the bridge is closed'it is energized todisplay a signal in al manner similar to that of magnet 22. In otherrespects this circuit loop and its associated devices are the same ashas already been described with respect to the gate valve loop.

Contacts, Such as 2O and 21, and contacts such as 31 and 32, may betermed signal transmitting devices because of their function intransmitting signals to the supervisors office.

What I claim is:

l. In a supervisory signaling system, the combination of a signal and acircuit therefor; a normally closed supervisory circuit including anelectroresponsive device provided with switching contacts having anormal position and a position of jchange, a'

between the switch and said contacts Whereforth in claim l, and anelectro-responsive by the latter may be cut into and out of theindicating device in lshunt to said circuit Signal circuit in bpth saidpositions, a circloser. 10 cuit closer in said supervisory circuit and aThis specification signed this 15th day of 5 supervised devioecontrolling said circuit March, A. 111918.

closer.

2. A supervisory signaling system as set RICHARD M. HOPKINS.

